I guess budgets are a lot harder if you have to have numbers in them.
Thatās ok Paulā¦ Iāve heard raw egg is good for the complexion ā
Nom nom nom nom nom!!! Mmmā¦bar-b-cued speaker!
OK, Boehner!
Current Sphincter of the Houseā¦Same as the previous Sphincter of the House: Impotent and Useless! Before long, Ryan will be orange from chain smoking and excessing drinkingā¦and weeping at the drop of a hat.
Not to worry Paulie, after November Nancy Pelosi will relieve you of your burden. ~I knowā¦long shot, but fingers crossed!~
http://americanirony.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/paul-ryan-speaker-of-the-louse.jpg
#DoYourJob
Who could have anticipated that a bunch of people who got elected on the basis of loud counterfactual posturing should have trouble doing the working they were elected to carry out.
One of the main Republican talking points is Obamaās inability to pass a budget, so of course the Republicans will refuse to participate in the process at all.
So predictable.
Here in TPM-land many of us predicted that if Ryan were to adhere to the (now convicted felon) Hastert āruleā, under which legislation doesnāt get to the floor unless itās supported by a majority of Repubs, youāre giving the Freedom Caucus a veto over everything. Surprise!
Last week, there was talk of a procedural compromise, under which the Repubs would put up both budgets ā the Ryan budget, and the Freedom Caucus budget ā and whichever got 218 votes would go on to the Senate. Evidently, Ryan didnāt have the balls to go through with that because it would alienate his fellow conservatives.
Surprise!
UPDATE: I deeply apologize to Dennis Hastert for referring to him as a now convicted felon. The conviction part, of course, was for paying off victims of his sexual assaults, and not for the assaults themselves. Well, turns out that Hastertās attorneys charged in court today that at least one of the alleged assaults was innocent conduct grossly misconstrued. According to TPMās account:
In the document, Hastertās lawyers referred to their previous suggestion that the āgroin rubā does not amount to sexual misconduct to argue that characterization should not be used against him in regards to the upcoming sentencing.
According to the Tribune, prosecutors said in a court filing Friday that āIndividual Aā alleged that Hastert offered to check out a groin pull the individual had been complaining about while staying with Hastert in a motel room on a trip back from wrestling camp. Hastert then had the individual remove his underwear and he began to massage the groin area, the prosecutorsā filing alleged.
Glad to set the record straight.
For the foreseeable future, I predict an American version of the Italian government between 1945 and 1985 ā a cascading series of speakers who get a budget passed only by selling out large numbers of Republican House members, and whose only choice thereafter is to resign the speakership in favor of the next willing victim. It appears chaotic to outsiders but no doubt takes on its own internal logic and order. The real price is that nothing larger or more important than keeping the doors open ever gets done.
And the absolute icing on the cake is itās all happening during a presidential election year.
Yes, Rep. Hoyer, the Rethugs ARE in deep disarray. Thank you for pointing that out publically.
Yep, when the internal dynamics didnāt change, Iām not sure what everyone was expecting from Ryan, except the usual bloviating about āgetting things doneā. Itās the caucus itself, not finding a magic leader who somehow inspires the rank and file to finally see reason.
Back on Capitol Hill, heās about to blow through a statutory deadline to pass an annual budget, a major embarrassment for him and House Republicans.
I don't think Republicans are any longer capable of experiencing embarrassment. They've spent the last decade building immunity to that affliction.I love that Ryan thought heād have any more capacity to deal with the FREEDUMB! caucus than Boehner. Bicep reps are a lot easier to deal with than these GOP repsā¦
And anyone whoās even remotely surprised by this has obviously not been paying attention for the past 8 years.
So sad I only have one āLikeā to give. You sir, have won the Intertubes for the day.
If weāre really good and really lucky, maybe the self-designated Freedom Caucus will figure out a way to shut down the government before the elections, and piss off enough voters to turn the House blue.
So much for the legacy of Ryan being the āparty savior,ā or the āpolicy wonk,ā or their ānumbers guy,ā etc. - well, you get it.
Talk about Schadenfreude. Heās more ineffectual than Boehner. I didnāt think that was even possible.
And this is the guy whoās supposed to be their White Knightā¦supposed to rescue them from the evil clutches of Trump and Cruz??
Remind meā¦what are his accomplishments again? A budget not worth the paper itās printed onā¦and all of s sudden, heās a policy wonk?
The one thing that is clear is that all these problems are the combined fault of Obama and Clinton.
None of this can be blamed on Paul āI donāt want to be Speakerā Ryan.
